Friend and colleague, Jim Calloway, recently recounted his time as a guest on the Digital Detectives podcast in his Law Practice Tips blog. Digital Detectives is a Legal Talk Network podcast hosted by Sensei’s Sharon Nelson and John Simek. The episode, “Cyber Security for Small Firms and Solo Practices” aired a year ago, but is still very pertinent today.

About the episode: In this episode of Digital Detectives, hosts Sharon Nelson and John Simek speak with Oklahoma Bar Association’s Management Assistance Program Director Jim Calloway about ways small firm and solo attorneys can improve their cyber security. Jim talks about the increased awareness of cyber security in the solo and small law firm community as a result of the recent news coverage of data breaches occurring in a variety of companies. This level of visibility and growing pool of attorneys who have personal experience with someone who has had a data breach or digital disaster has cultivated an understanding that a compromised database or dead computer can put the entire law firm out of business. He states that seeing these large companies being compromised can often cause small firms with much smaller budgets to question if there is anything they can do to protect themselves. Jim points out that attorneys running their own firms or small businesses have a duty to supervise their employees and provides his 5 top cyber security tips to help these very firms and solo lawyers protect themselves, their clients, and address the importance of physically securing company laptops and other mobile devices. He closes the interview with an analysis of the risks and rewards of utilizing cloud-based practice management tools designed specifically for legal professionals and his advice for law firms who feel that they can’t afford to adequately secure themselves.

Giving back to our community is very important to everyone here at Sensei, which is why we are excited to be a part of Langley Residential Support Services’ Annual Fall Wine/Beer Tasting & Benefit Auction again this year. This year, the event will be on October 21st from 5 to 8 PM.

About the event: Each Fall we hold a Wine/Beer Tasting and Benefit Auction to raise funds for our programs and activities. It’s a wonderful opportunity to discover the perfect wine or beer for upcoming holiday meals and gatherings, enjoy a delicious buffet of hearty hors d’oeuvres, socialize and network with interesting people, and bid on great silent and live auction items.

This year our event theme is Uncorking a Rich, Full Life!. We feel this describes the essence of what we work to achieve for all ot the men and women with developmental disabilities in our program: To help them unleash their full potential and support them in living a life that is valued, productive and as independent as possible.

#SenseiSherlock thanked Billie Jo Brooks, the Director of Technology and Information Services at Williams Mullen, for inviting Sharon and John to do cybersecurity training for legal professionals in Richmond.

Recently, Sensei’s Sharon Nelson, John Simek, and Michael Maschke wrote “Practical cybersecurity for law firms: How to batten down the hatches” for the ABA Journal. The ABA Journal is read by half of the nation’s 1 million lawyers every month. It covers the trends, people and finances of the legal profession from Wall Street to Main Street to Pennsylvania Avenue. This article appears in the October 2017 edition.

Excerpt: We’re quickly approaching 2018, and a week doesn’t go by without another variant of malware causing havoc across the globe. First it was the WannaCry ransomware worm, which infected more than 230,000 computer systems in over 150 countries, demanding ransom payments in exchange for the decryption of files. More recently, a new variant using code from the Petya ransomware (named “NotPetya”) struck first in Ukraine, followed by other European countries, and disabled critical utility services, such as the radiation monitoring system at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as well as affecting the countries’ banks and commuter systems.

What caught the attention of lawyers was an apparent infection in one of DLA Piper’s European offices that brought the law firm’s normal operations to a halt. As we write, the extent of the damage is still unclear.

Times have changed since CryptoLocker first ran wild in 2013, but the results are still as devastating. The costs of ransoms have significantly gone up from a few hundred dollars to the $1,000-plus range for the decryption key to unlock the affected files—and more than half of those who pay up do not receive the decryption key. So much for honor among thieves!